Watch Online The Best Jazz Movie

Jazz on a Summer's Day

Features one of the rare film appearances of two of the greatest jazz artists of all times: New Orleans-born trumpeter Louis Armstrong and Texas-born trombonist Jack Teagarden. When Armstrong formed his six-piece All Stars in 1946 Jack, who was white, was asked to join. The obvious affection these two great performers felt for each other's singing, clowning and playing is particularly evident in their classic performance of "Old Rocking Chair." After Armstrong was invited to return his home town after many years away, he insisted Teagarden join him on the stage. The city refused to let a white man and a Negro play together. Armstrong vowed never to return to New Orleans and kept his word until the day he died.

"Louis Armstrong and his band kitted out in matching blazers with Mother of Pearl buttons. Anita O'Day in her marvelous hat and white gloves. Thelonious Monk and his bamboo sunglasses. In the audience there's the beautiful girl in the red sweater chewing gum. Ascots. Bermuda shorts. Straw hats. Capri pants. And young couples having some real fun. I felt like crying."

"I caught this film about 10 years ago while idly flipping around the cable minefield. It had already started as I began to watch, so I didn't know anything about it till it was over. Like you, I was mesmerized. And suddenly clued in to the magic of my parents' heyday. This was their milieu - jazz, cocktails, effortless style, genuine optimism. All the moments you site in the film are priceless. The juxtaposition of the America's Cup trials, crowd shots and epic performances is very unique and more than holds up today. It was very near the end of an era. The end of jazz as more or less mainstream entertainment. The end of an era of populist panache. The end of optimism. This film filled in a lot of gaps for me. It gave me a window into the world of my parents, at a time when they were just becoming my parents. I've been urging people to see it ever since - and everyone who does see seems sincerely grateful. I wish I'd been able to see the restored print at Lincoln Center. That must have been a treat. "

Cast (in credits order)
Jimmy Giuffre ... Himself
Thelonious Monk ... Himself
Henry Grimes ... Himself
Sonny Stitt ... Himself
Sal Salvador ... Himself
Anita O'Day ... Herself
George Shearing ... Himself
Dinah Washington ... Herself
Gerry Mulligan ... Himself
Big Maybelle ... Herself
Chuck Berry ... Himself
Chico Hamilton ... Himself


Louis Armstrong ... Himself
Jack Teagarden ... Himself
Mahalia Jackson ... Herself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
David Baily ... Himself
Danny Barcelona ... Himself
Bob Brookmeyer ... Himself
Buck Clayton ... Himself
Willis Conover ... Interviewer
Bill Crow ... Himself
Eric Dolphy ... Himself
Eli's Chosen Six ... Themselves
Art Farmer ... Himself
Harold Gaylon ... Himself
Nathan Gershman ... Himself
Terry Gibbs ... Himself
Urbie Green ... Himself
Jim Hall ... Himself
Peanuts Hucko ... Himself
Jo Jones ... Himself
Ray Mosca ... Himself
Armando Peraza ... Himself
Max Roach ... Himself
Rudy Rutherford ... Himself
Martin Williams ... Jazz Critic in Audience
Patricia Bosworth ... Disgruntled redhead in audience (uncredited)
Directors:Aram Avakian
Bert Stern
Writers:Albert D'Annibale (writer)
Arnold Perl (writer)

George Whitman Is Dead at 98

In 1951, George Whitman opened a bookshop-commune in Paris. George, 92, still runs his "den of anarchists disguised as a bookstore," offering free, dirty beds to poor literati, cutting his hair with a candle and gluing the carpet with pancake batter. More than 40,000 poets, travelers and political activists have stayed at Shakespeare & Co, writing or stealing books, throwing parties and making soup or love while living with George's generosity and fits of anger. Illustrious guests include Henry Miller, Anaïs Nin, Jacques Prévert, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, James Baldwin and Richard Wright. Welcome to the makeshift utopia of the last member of the Beat Generation.
Portrait of a Bookstore as an Old Man

Walt Disney, Syphilis and Gonorrhea

As VD Attack Plan begins, we hear an air raid siren and an explosion as the letters “VD” flash on the screen. The letters “Attack Plan” are spelled out with machine gun fire. A narrator announces: “This is a war story. It could be anywhere in the world.

It could involve anyone. It could only take place within the human body.”
The next scene is of an animated germ wearing a spiked Kaiser helmet, the Sergeant (played by Keenan Wynn – perhaps best known for his role as Colonel ‘Bat’ Guano in Dr. Strangelove) briefing his troops of the Contagion Corps. The troops are syphilis and gonorrhea germs that wear berets with their initials on them (‘S’ and ‘G’).
via othercinema.com

Naughty Bookworms...

"Who knows what lurks in the stacks of the old abandoned library..." This is a fun movie about a young boy who discovers strange creatures living amongst the old books. For young and old alike...

Bookworm is a popular generalization for any insect which supposedly bores through books.
Actual book-borers are uncommon. Both the larvae of the death watch beetle (Xestobium rufovillosum) and the common furniture beetle (Anobium punctatum) will tunnel through wood and paper if it is nearby the wood.
A major book-feeding insect is the book or paper louse (aka booklouse or paperlouse). A tiny (under 1 mm), soft-bodied wingless Psocoptera (usually Trogium pulsatorium), that actually feeds on microscopic molds and other organic matter found in ill-maintained works (e.g., cool, damp, dark, and undisturbed areas of archives, libraries, and museums), although they will also attack bindings and other book parts. It is not actually a true louse.

Many other insects, like the silverfish (Lepisma saccharina) or cockroach (various Blattodea), will consume these molds and also degraded paper or the starch-based binding pastes – warmth and moisture or high humidity are prerequisites, so damage is more common in the tropics. Modern glues and paper are less attractive to insects.
Two moths, Tineola bisselliella and Hofmannophila pseudospretella, will attack cloth bindings. Leather-bound books attract various other consumers, such as Dermestes lardarius and the larvae of Attagenus unicolor and Stegobium paniceum. The bookworm moth (Heliothis zea or H. virescens) and its larvae are not interested in books. The larvae are pests for cotton or tobacco growers as the cotton bollworm or tobacco budworm.

Jewish people don't believe in luck...Schlimazeltov!

Maybe some people are just born unlucky? This documentary film weaves together a diverse collection of different voices from London’s Jewish community to explore the concept of “luck” or “mazel”. From lucky charms and curses to global economics and quantum physics, this humorous and philosophical piece of visual poetry navigates the boundaries between religion and superstition to ask how the invisible hand of mazel has touched us all.
Director: Christopher Thomas Allen
Producer: Andrew Hinton
Music: Malcolm Litson

84 Charing Cross Road ...

Helene Hanff's book 84 Charing Cross Road had previously been a TV program and a stage play before it was converted into this 1986 film. The scene is New York, 1949: Anne Bancroft plays a struggling writer and passionate bibliophile, who answers an advertisement from a rare-volumes bookshop at 84 Charing Cross Road in London.

Thus begins a two-decade romance by correspondence between Bancroft and Briton Anthony Hopkins, the man in charge of the overseas department of Marks and Company. Though several meetings are arranged, Bancroft and Hopkins never come face to face thanks to mitigating circumstances. But Anne finally makes it to London, and finds that much has changed. 84 Charing Cross Road was produced by Mel Brooks, the husband of star Anne Bancroft

The 100 Greatest

Here is a List of Movies Cited in the Above Video

0’00 - Roxanne, Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Gleaming the Cube, The Princess Bride, A Fish Called Wanda, Star Wars, The Wizard of Oz, Casino, Three Amigos, A Clockwork Orange

1’05 - Dolemite, Glengarry Glen Ross, Bad Santa, The Witches of Eastwick, The Big Lebowski, In Bruges, Full Metal Jacket, There Will Be Blood

2’05 - Toy Story, Casablanca, Encino Man, The Women, Predator, Army of Darkness, They Live, Uncle Buck, Big Trouble in Little China, New Jack City, Billy Madison

3’00 - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Departed, Carlito’s Way, In the Loop, Glengarry Glen Ross, Stand By Me, Grosse Pointe Blank, Duck Soup, Caddyshack, Planes Trains & Automobiles

4’00 - South Park, Napoleon Dynamite, Mean Girls, The Breakfast Club, As Good as It Gets, The 6th Day, Step Brothers, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Full Metal Jacket, City Slickers, Road House, True Grit, Shot Circuit

5’00 - Raging Bull, The Usual Suspects, Snatch, Caddyshack, The Last Boy Scout, Ghostbusters, The Sandlot, As Good as It Gets

6’00 - 48 Hrs, In Bruges, Silver Streak, Glengarry Glen Ross, A Fish Called Wanda, Goodfellas, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, The Mist, Trading Places

7’00 - The Warriors, Point Break, Gangs of New York, Reservoir Dogs, The Breakfast Club, The Cowboys, Full Metal Jacket, Dodgeball, Donnie Darko, Scarface, The Good the Bad and the Ugly

8’00 - Anchorman, Tropic Thunder, Sexy Beast, In the Loop, Get Shorty, Blazing Saddles, The Way of the Gun, Blade: Trinity, Clerks, The Boondock Saints, The Exorcist, What About Bob?, Weird Science

9’00 - Con Air, True Romance, In the Loop, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Lake Placid, The Front, Gone with the Wind
Link

Watch and Enjoy:The Band's Visit (Bikur hatizmoret)

When the Ceremonial Police Band of Alexandria, Egypt, journeys to a gig in Israel, they can hardly anticipate getting stuck in a rut. But upon arrival at the Israeli airport, their hosts and transportation fail to show. So begins first-time director Eran Kolirin's fish-out-of-water comedy The Band's Visit (aka Bikur Hatizmoret, 2007). Trapped in a middle-of-nowhere desert town, the group members try to figure out what to do and where to go. In desperation, two of the musicians -- conductor Tawfiq (Sasson Gabai) and playboy Haled (Saleh Bakri) -- accept an invitation from sexy café owner Dina (Ronit Elkabetz) to bunk at her residence, and seemingly within no time, the unlikeliest of interracial (Israeli-Palestinian) romances begin to blossom -- not only between Tawfiq and Dina, but between Haled and local wallflower Papi (Shlomi Avraham), whose night together at a roller disco turns into a veritable comedy of errors. Meanwhile, the remainder of the bandmembers room with local resident Itzik's (Rubi Moscovich) family, which produces overwhelming conflict and innumerable tensions. As the days roll on, the co-mingling of Egyptian bandmembers and Israeli residents imparts each individual with insights into his cultural identity and that of the others.

ביקור התזמורת

תזמורת משטרה מיצרית מגיעה לישראל במטרה לנגן במרכז חדש לתרבות ערבית בפתח תקווה, הם מגיעים לשדה התעופה תלושים מהמציאות לבושים בבגדי תיזמורת יפים מסודרים ונקיים אך מחרידים להפליא , רק בשביל לגלות כי אף אחד לא טרח לבוא לקחת אותם, אז מפקדם החרוץ ששון גבאי מנסה להוכיח לתזמורת כי הם יסתדרו בכוחות עצמם אך נכשל במשימתו ונבוך הוא שמגלה שסחב את כולם לבית התקווה מקום שכוח אל שם מוצא למזלו את המושיעה והמלאכית רונית אלקבץ יושבת עם שני בחורים מובטלים במזנון הקטן שלה , המפגש בינם לבין ביקורם המפתיע של התיזמורת המצרית שצצה משום מקום, מקורי אך מתאר מפגש חיים פשוט ומרגש. חובה לראות 

Визит оркестра
Александрийский церемониальный полицейский оркестр в составе восьми человек прилетает в Израиль, где должен играть на открытии нового Арабского культурного центра. Музыкантов никто не встречает, и они пытаются добраться до нужного города самостоятельно. И оказываются буквально посреди пустыни, в маленьком и не очень дружелюбном на вид городке...
"Из географического казуса режиссер сделал милейшую комедию: конкретно - об арабах и израильтянах, а вообще - о понимании и человечности."

The Howlin' Wolf Story: the definitive documentary

The Howlin' Wolf Story was directed by Don McGlynn, director of Charles Mingus: Triumph Of The Underdog and many other prize-winning film biographies. It was produced by Joe Lauro, whose company, Historic Films, Inc., supplied much of the footage for Martin Scorsese's blues series on PBS. Their in-depth look at Wolf's life and music includes astounding, rare film footage and never-before-seen photos of Wolf stalking the stage at the 1964 American Folk Blues Festival, on the TV show "Shindig" in 1965, at the 1966 Newport Folk Festival, and in the Chicago clubs in the '50s and '60s.

It also includes entertaining and revealing new interviews with Hubert Sumlin, Jody Williams, Billy Boy Arnold, Sam Lay, Paul Burlison, Wolf's stepdaughters Barbara and Bettye, Dick Shurman, and many other people who played with and knew Wolf in his heyday. This is the definitive documentary about the Wolf—the most complete, personal, and exciting look at the blues legend ever put to film!(via Boogie Disease)

He's not the Messiah. He's a very naughty boy!

Watch and enjoy Life of Brian... with arabic subtitles!
Brian: Excuse me. Are you the Judean People's Front?
Reg: Fuck off! We're the People's Front of Judea

Reg: All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
Attendee: Brought peace?
Reg: Oh, peace - shut up!
Reg: There is not one of us who would not gladly suffer death to rid this country of the Romans once and for all.
Dissenter: Uh, well, one.
Reg: Oh, yeah, yeah, there's one. But otherwise, we're solid.

Brian: Have I got a big nose, Mum?
Brian?s mother: Stop thinking about sex!
Brian: I wasn't!
Brian?s mother: You're always on about it. "Will the girls like this? Will the girls like that? Is it too big? Is it too small?

Brian: I am NOT the Messiah!
Arthur: I say you are Lord, and I should know. I've followed a few.

Reg: If you want to join the People's Front of Judea, you have to really hate the Romans.
Brian: I do!
Reg: Oh yeah, how much?
Brian: A lot!
Reg: Right, you're in.

[a line of prisoners files past a jailer]
Coordinator: Crucifixion?
Prisoner: Yes.
Coordinator: Good. Out of the door, line on the left, one cross each.
[Next prisoner]
Coordinator: Crucifixion?
Mr. Cheeky: Er, no, freedom actually.
Coordinator: What?
Mr. Cheeky: Yeah, they said I hadn't done anything and I could go and live on an island somewhere.
Coordinator: Oh I say, that's very nice. Well, off you go then.
Mr. Cheeky: No, I'm just pulling your leg, it's crucifixion really.
Coordinator: [laughing] Oh yes, very good. Well...
Mr. Cheeky: Yes I know, out of the door, one cross each, line on the left.

Wise Man #1: We were led by a star.
Brian's mother: Led by a bottle, more like.

Suicide Squad Leader: We are the Judean People's Front crack suicide squad! Suicide squad, attack!
[they all stab themselves]
Suicide Squad Leader: That showed 'em, huh?

Brian?s mother: He's not the Messiah. He's a very naughty boy!

Brian: I'm not a roman mum, I'm a kike, a yid, a heebie, a hook-nose, I'm kosher mum, I'm a Red Sea pedestrian, and proud of it!

Brian: I'm not the Messiah! Will you please listen? I am not the Messiah, do you understand? Honestly!
Girl: Only the true Messiah denies His divinity.
Brian: What? Well, what sort of chance does that give me? All right! I am the Messiah!
Followers: He is! He is the Messiah!
Brian: Now, fuck off!
[silence]
Arthur: How shall we fuck off, O Lord?

Ex-Leper: Half a dinare for me bloody life story?
Brian: There's no pleasing some people.
Ex-Leper: That's just what Jesus said, sir.

Ex-Leper: Okay, sir, my final offer: half a shekel for an old ex-leper?
Brian: Did you say "ex-leper"?
Ex-Leper: That's right, sir, 16 years behind a veil and proud of it, sir.
Brian: Well, what happened?
Ex-Leper: Oh, cured, sir.
Brian: Cured?
Ex-Leper: Yes sir, bloody miracle, sir. Bless you!
Brian: Who cured you?
Ex-Leper: Jesus did, sir. I was hopping along, minding my own business, all of a sudden, up he comes, cures me! One minute I'm a leper with a trade, next minute my livelihood's gone. Not so much as a by-your-leave! "You're cured, mate." Bloody do-gooder.


Brian: Well, why don't you go and tell him you want to be a leper again?
Ex-Leper: Uh, I could do that sir, yeah. Yeah, I could do that I suppose. What I was thinking was I was going to ask him if he could make me a bit lame in one leg during the middle of the week. You know, something beggable, but not leprosy, which is a pain in the ass to be blunt and excuse my French, sir.

Brian: Please, please, please listen! I've got one or two things to say.
The Crowd: Tell us! Tell us both of them!
Brian: Look, you've got it all wrong! You don't NEED to follow ME, You don't NEED to follow ANYBODY! You've got to think for your selves! You're ALL individuals!
The Crowd: Yes! We're all individuals!
Brian: You're all different!
The Crowd: Yes, we ARE all different!
Man in crowd: I'm not...
The Crowd: Sch!

Reg: [arriving at Brian's crucifixion] Hello, Sibling Brian.
Brian: Thank God you've come, Reg.
Reg: Well, I think I should point out first, Brian, in all fairness, we are not, in fact, the rescue committee. However, I have been asked to read the following prepare statement on behalf of the movement. "We the People's Front of Judea, brackets, officials, end brackets, do hereby convey our sincere fraternal and sisterly greetings to you, Brian, on this, the occasion of your martyrdom. "
Brian: What?
Reg: "Your death will stand as a landmark in the continuing struggle to liberate the parent land from the hands of the Roman imperialist aggressors, excluding those concerned with drainage, medicine, roads, housing, education, viniculture and any other Romans contributing to the welfare of Jews of both sexes and hermaphrodites. Signed, on behalf of the P. F. J. , etc. " And I'd just like to add, on a personal note, my own admiration, for what you're doing for us, Brian, on what must be, after all, for you a very difficult time.

Matthias: Look, I don't think it should be a sin, just for saying "Jehovah".
[Everyone gasps]
Jewish Official: You're only making it worse for yourself!
Matthias: Making it worse? How can it be worse? Jehovah! Jehovah! Jehovah!
Jewish Official: I'm warning you! If you say "Jehovah" one more time (gets hit with rock) RIGHT! Who did that? Come on, who did it?
Stoners: She did! She did! (suddenly speaking as men) He! He did! He!
Jewish Official: Was it you?
Stoner: Yes.
Jewish Official: Right...
Stoner: Well you did say "Jehovah. "
[Crowd throws rocks at the stoner]
Jewish Official: STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT RIGHT NOW! STOP IT! All right, no one is to stone _anyone_ until I blow this whistle. Even... and I want to make this absolutely clear... even if they do say, "Jehovah. "
[Crowd stones the Jewish Official to death]

Brian: You have to be different!
The Crowd: Yes, we are all different!
Small lonely voice: I'm not!

Brian?s mother: What star sign is he?
Wise Man #2: Capricorn.
Brian?s mother: Capricorn, eh? What are they like?
Wise Man #2: He is the son of God, our Messiah.
Wise Man #1: King of the Jews.
Brian?s mother: And that's Capricorn, is it?
Wise Man #3: No, no, that's just him.
Brian?s mother: Oh, I was going to say, otherwise there'd be a lot of them.

Judith: [on Stan's desire to be a mother] Here! I've got an idea: Suppose you agree that he can't actually have babies, not having a womb - which is nobody's fault, not even the Romans' - but that he can have the *right* to have babies.
Francis: Good idea, Judith. We shall fight the oppressors for your right to have babies, brother... sister, sorry.
Reg: What's the *point*?
Francis: What?
Reg: What's the point of fighting for his right to have babies, when he can't have babies?
Francis: It is symbolic of our struggle against oppression.
Reg: It's symbolic of his struggle against reality.

Centurion: You know the penalty laid down by Roman law for harboring a known criminal?
Matthias: No.
Centurion: Crucifixion!
Matthias: Oh.
Centurion: Nasty, eh?
Matthias: Could be worse.
Centurion: What you mean "Could be worse"?
Matthias: Well, you could be stabbed.
Centurion: Stabbed? Takes a second. Crucifixion lasts hours. It's a slow, horrible death.
Matthias: Well, at least it gets you out in the open air.
Centurion: You're weird!
(read more...)
Graham Chapman ... Wise Man #2 / Brian Cohen / Biggus Dickus

John Cleese ... Wise Man #1 / Reg / Jewish Official / Centurion / Deadly Dirk / Arthur

Terry Gilliam ... Man Even Further Forward / Revolutionary / Jailer / Blood & Thunder Prophet / Frank / Audience Member / Crucifee

Eric Idle ... Mr. Cheeky / Stan (Loretta) / Harry the Haggler / Culprit Woman / Warris / Intensely Dull Youth / Jailer's Assistant / Otto / Lead Singer Crucifee

Terry Jones ... Mandy Cohen / Colin / Simon the Holy Man / Bob Hoskins / Saintly Passer-by / Alarmed Crucifixion Assistant

Michael Palin ... Wise Man #3 / Mr. Big Nose / Francis / Mrs. A / Ex-Leper / Announcer / Ben / Pontius Pilate / Boring Prophet / Eddie / Shoe Follower / Nisus Wettus

Insight into the Soul of an Orthodox Jew

Usually orthodox Jews are suspicious and don’t like to be interviewed. Swiss filmmaker Jürg Da Vaz succeeded, however, to get close to them. In his amazing film “Itzhak Frey&Son” he reveals the mind of Itzhak Frey, an old wise Jew with Central European roots and deep Jewish convictions who sells pastries while giving Da Vaz some history lessons and - as a cashier counting the coins - is teaching Da Vaz religious philosophy.
His colourful movie, which also has touching encounters with Frey’s son David, is a revealing document of orthodoxy in the 21st century.

„As we left the bookshop in Mea Shearim where I had met David, he made sure: “Is the tape on?“ Walking through the narrow, busy lanes of Me’a She’arim and listening intently to his fascinating stories, I cautiously asked David: “May we visit your father?“ He first hesitated since he did not know how his father would react to my camera. His father had never allowed anybody to take a picture of him. Then David suddenly stopped, turned to the right and took me to the almost 90 year old Itzhak Frey who was working in his own Pastry Shop at Yecheskei Street as a cashier.“

Швейцарский режиссер Юрг Da Ваз в удивительном фильме "Ицхак Фрей & сын" раскрывает ум Ицхака Фрея, мудрого старого еврея , который продает булочки давая Da Вазу уроки истории и религиозной философии считая сдачу.
" ...я осторожно спросил Давида : "Можем ли мы посетить вашего отеца? Сначала он колебался, поскольку он не знал, как его отец будет реагировать на мою камеру. Его отец никогда не позволял сфотографировать его. Давид вдруг остановился, повернул направо и взял меня к почти 90 летнему Ицхакы Фрею, который работал в своей кондитории на улице Ехезкель у кассы".

Purim in Ein Hod - Disaster Movie

Yet another entry in the Jason Friedberg-Aaron Seltzer series of movie spoofs, this scattershot collection lame gags is the definition of disposable entertainment: Lazy, superficially au courant and utterly forgettable.
Commitment-phobe Will (Matt Lanter) breaks up with his girlfriend Amy (Vanessa Minnillo) on the day of his Super Duper Sweet 16 party – yes, he's 25 and a guy, but better late than never and hey, why should girls have all the fun? – and is haunted by the thought that he's just made the biggest mistake of his life. Amy comes to the party with her new beau, a Calvin Klein underwear model, but leaves in a snit just before meteors begin raining down on the Earth. Will, his best friend Calvin (Gary Johnson), Calvin's girlfriend Lisa (Kim Kardashian) and the hugely pregnant and relentlessly hip 'n' snarky Juney (Crista Flanagan) try to escape the city, but Will turns back to rescue Amy, now trapped at the Museum of Natural History and holding the key that could save the world.
Like MEET THE SPARTANS (2008), EPIC MOVIE (2007), DATE MOVIE (2006) and the SCARY MOVIE franchise, DISASTER MOVIE isn't parody a la AIRPLANE! (1980) and HOTSHOTS! (1991): Rather than poking knowing and affectionate fun at genre conventions, it simply strings together a series of witless, juvenile gags predicated on throwaway fads, catchphrases and celebrity scandals. American Gladiators, Dr. Phil, Hannah Montana, Amy Winehouse, the HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL movies and MTV's My Super Sweet 16 jostle for screen time with WANTED, INDIANA JONES AND THE CRYSTAL SKULL, HANCOCK, CLOVERFIELD, THE RUINS, BEOWULF, Christopher Nolan's BATMAN movies, JUNO, SUPERBAD, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, 10,000 B.C., the SEX AND THE CITY movie, ENCHANTED, ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS and IRON MAN. The allusions are so cheap and lazy that characters are called upon to make sure everyone gets it by declaring "Look everyone, it's Jessica Simpson," "Oh my God, Hannah Montana's dead" and, most memorably, "It's a TWISTER," which sets up a series of sight gags involving miscellaneous superheroes and a falling cow. The only bright spots are Christopher Lennertz's pitch-perfect musical pastiches: His lampoons of the HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL series' blandly competent pop tunes, Alvin and the Chipmunks-style novelty numbers (Lennertz scored the abominable 2007 Chipmunks reboot) and, most notably, the viral-video phenomenon "I'm F—king Matt Damon" are everything the rest of the film isn't: Witty, clever and steeped in an insider's knowledge of entertainment-industry clichés ripe for surgical skewering. He deserves a better forum for his considerable gifts.
(from HERE)
I think i"ll enjoy it...

Liquid Sky of Slava Tsukerman

Liquid Sky is an independent American film produced in 1983 with a budget of $500,000. It broke all the existing box office and duration records in the U.S., Germany and Japan (citation needed) and won a cult following shortly after its release. In New York, Boston and Washington D.C. the film played non-stop for more than three years and grossed more than a million dollars in each city. Liquid Sky was the recipient of five international film festival awards.

In April 16, 2009 Dan Person of current.com recalls that upon its release Liquid Sky "provoked heated arguments and, love it or hate, was required viewing for anyone who really cared about film." Dan Person considers the film "one of the formative forces of indie film."
Carlos James Chamberlin wrote in March, 2004 at senseofcinema.com: "It’s about time people started rendering into Liquid Sky. Its long lipstick trace is smudged through much of indie cinema."
Liquid Sky regularly plays at numerous international film festivals and every screening is completely sold out. The audiences are young and their reaction to the film is more fervent than it was when the film was first released in 1983.
Vladislav "Slava" Tsukerman (born 1940) is an Russian film director. He was born in the Soviet Union and emigrated in 1973 with his wife Nina Kerova to Israel. In 1976 he moved to New York City. He is best known for producing, directing, and writing the screenplay for the 1982 cult film Liquid Sky. He also directed the 2004 documentary Stalin's Wife (about Nadezhda Alliluyeva) and the 2008 film Perestroika.
Liquid Sky (Slava Tsukerman, 1982) Plot summary: Tiny aliens in a very small flying saucer (which looks like a cheap neon Frisbee) come to Earth, looking for heroin. They land on roof of a penthouse in New York's East Village (new-wave Manhattan) inhabited by a drug dealer (Paula E. Sheppard (the former child star of 'Alice, Sweet Alice')) and her female, androgynous, bisexual nymphomaniac lover, who is a fashion model (Anne Carlisle). The aliens are after the chemicals produced in the human brain during orgasm, which they have discovered is far superior to heroin, and the model's casual sex partners quickly begin to disappear, one by one by one.

This increasingly bizarre scenario is observed by a lonely, (sex-starved) woman in the building across the street, the German scientist, Johann Hoffman, who is following the aliens (played by Otto Von Wernherr), and an equally androgynous, and drug-addicted male model (also played by Anne Carlisle).

Secrets of Cuba

Video  by Nechama Levendel and Nadav Bloch made during their stay in Cuba.
http://ein-hod.com/

Allegro non troppo

Something of a Fantasia for adults, Allegro Non Troppo intercuts slapstick live-action sequences -- which relay the story of a beleaguered animator's (Maurizio Nichetti) ongoing battle with an Oliver Hardy-like orchestra conductor -- and animated sequences, set to classical music, which visually interpret selected works of Debussy, Dvorak, Ravel, Sibelius, Vivaldi, and Stravinsky. The liveliest piece, set to Ravel's &Bolero, delineates a series of "spontaneous generations" from an abandoned Coke bottle. The most haunting piece, set to Sibelius' &Valse Triste, depicts a forlorn cat wandering the ruins of a condemned building and constantly hallucinating that he is back in the lap of luxury. Allegro Non Troppo is the brainchild of gifted Italian animator Bruno Bozzetto.

Gimme Shelter

Much of the film chronicles the behind-the-scenes dealmaking that took place to make the free Altamont concert happen, including much footage of well-known attorney Melvin Belli negotiating by telephone with the management of the Altamont Speedway. The movie also includes a playback of Hells Angels leader Ralph "Sonny" Barger's famous call-in to radio station KSAN-FM's "day after" program about the concert, where he recalls, "They told me if I could sit on the edge of the stage so nobody could climb over me, I could drink beer until the show was over."

The action then turns on the concert itself at the Altamont Speedway, the security for which was provided by the Hells Angels (armed with pool cues). As the day progresses, with drug-taking and drinking by the Angels and members of the audience, the mood turns ugly. Fights break out during performances by The Flying Burrito Brothers and Jefferson Airplane; Grace Slick pleads with the crowd to settle down. At one point Jefferson Airplane lead singer Marty Balin is knocked out by a Hells Angel; Paul Kantner attempts to confront "the people who hit my lead singer" in response. Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh arrive, but The Grateful Dead opt not to play after learning of the incident with Balin. (Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young also performed at the concert but are not shown in the movie).
By the time The Stones hit the stage, it is evening, and the crowd is especially restless. The Stones open with "Jumpin' Jack Flash." They are also shown performing "Sympathy for the Devil" as tension continues to build. It is during the next song, "Under My Thumb", that a member of the audience, 18 year old Meredith Hunter, pulls out a revolver in the course of a melee near the stage, and is stabbed to death by Alan Passaro, a member of the Angels.
The late Baird Bryant, one of the many cameramen in the film, caught Meredith Hunter's stabbing on film. The film sequence clearly shows the silhouette of a handgun in Hunter's hand as a member of the Hells Angels enters from the right, grabs and raises the gun hand, turning Hunter around and stabbing him at least twice in the back before pushing Hunter off camera.
Amongst the camera operators for the Altamont concert was a young George Lucas, who went on to become a successful film director in his own right. At the concert his camera jammed after shooting about 100 feet (30 m) of film, and none of his footage was incorporated in the final cut

Henry Miller Asleep & Awake in his Bathroom with Gurdjieff

“Today, I think it’s the ugliest, filthiest, shittiest city in the world. When I was a kid, there was hardly anything that we have today - no telephones, no automobiles...no nothing, really. It was rather quaint. There was color even, in the buildings. But as time went on, why, it got more horrible to me. When I think of the Brooklyn bridge, which was the only bridge then in existence...how many times I walked over that bridge on an empty stomach, back and forth, looking for a handout, never getting anything...selling newspapers at Times Square, begging on Broadway, coming home with a dime maybe. It’s no wonder that I had these goddamned recurring nightmares all my life. I don’t know how I ever survived, or why I’m still sane.”

Filmed when the author was 81, HENRY MILLER ASLEEP & AWAKE is a voyage of ideas about life, writing, sex, spirituality, nightmares, and New York that captures the warmth, vigor and high animal spirits of a singular American artist. The man is Henry Miller and the room is his bathroom. It's a miraculous shrine covered with photos and drawings collected by the author over the course of his long and fruitful life. Graciously, in his raspy, sonorous voice, he points out the highlights of his improvised gallery, speaking of philosophers, writers, painters, mad kings, women, and friends.

Tom Schiller grew up in LA and met Henry Miller when he was 18 assisting another filmmaker shooting at the author's home. Schiller's other works include documentaries on Willem de Kooning, Buckminster Fuller and Anais Nin, before joining Saturday Night Live as an original writer. There, he won three Emmy's and created the short film segments "Schiller's Reel" and "Schillervision" and worked with John Belushi, Bill Murray and Gilda Radner among others. Schiller later wrote and directed an MGM/UA feature film entitled "Nothing Lasts Forever" and has been directing television commercials for over a decade.

Freaks and SPURS

The film's climax—the night in which the freaks wreak their justice upon the strong man and trapeze artist, followed by the epilogue showing the horrendous hen-creature—have long been touted as supreme examples of screen horror, and are

unquestionably a major reason why FREAKS has remained a cinematic legend. They are indeed highlights of the film, the torrential downpour being a Browning tour-de-force in which the only sounds are assorted groans, screams and the elements of nature. Nevertheless, for all that can be said of it, the chase sequence is far too brief. We must be content with the one glimpse of Cleo's face and the freaks in pursuit the camera affords us, although a longer series of shots, with Cleo racing . . . falling . . . struggling to make her way through the forest with various innocent shadows playing amongst the trees and undergrowth, climaxing in a similar way, would have made the sequence even more memorable. There remain, admittedly so, the couple of marvelous close-ups of the freaks propelling themselves through the mire towards the mortally wounded Hercules (there appears to be some footage missing here, for the strong man's fate is never actually explained in action or dialogue; an original plan was to have him emasculated, but as the film exists now, it is assumed that the freaks murdered him). Had Browning chosen to insert additional shots such as these, the result would have been even more satisfying.
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Rachel and the Dragon

After creating their first ever African American princess, Disney breaks new ground with a Jewish American Princess.

It's Public Enemy, Number One!

Reefer Madness is a 1936 cult film about a group of young students whose tragic downfall is apparently caused by their marijuana use.
Directed by Louis Gasnier. Written by Arthur Hoerl.

Mae: What time is it?
Jack: Time to get up and give this place the goin' over. It looks like the Marines have landed.
Mae: Well, that bunch last night was high enough to take over the Marines and the Navy!

Jimmy: How about driving over to the... Joe's place with me? I'll buy you a soda!
Bill: I never drink the stuff!

[Jimmy finishes a reefer before driving.]
Jimmy: Let's go, Jack. I'm red-hot!
Jack: Better be careful how you drive, or the first thing you know you'll be ice-cold.

Bureau Official: Here is an example: A fifteen-year-old lad apprehended in the act of staging a holdup — fifteen years old and a marijuana addict. Here is a most tragic case.
Dr. Carroll: Yes, I remember. Just a young boy... under the influence of drugs... who killed his entire family with an axe.